Leader photos by T. SCOTT BOATRIGHT
Ruston Bearcats Head Coach Billy Laird stressed to his team that they should drink plenty of liquids as they wrapped up their first preseason practice Wednesday.

Most people realize that football is a contact sport and there is an element of danger involved.
But what if the danger doesn’t come from hard-hitting contact? The record-setting temperatures blasting the area in recent days have made things tough on everyone, but imagine starting football practice in the middle of a blistering heat wave.

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Catahoula Lake has always been a bit of a mystery to me. Once the waterfowl migration gets underway each fall and winter, the focus is on this sprawling body of water covering some 30,000 acres in LaSalle and Rapides Parishes because the lake is a stop-over site for millions of waterfowl on their way south for the winter.

For the first time in more than a dozen years, Louisiana Tech eclipsed the 100-point plateau as the Lady Techsters rolled to a 103-63 win over NAIA foe LSU-Alexandria Saturday afternoon at the Thomas Assembly Center.

Tech (2-2) dominated from start to finish, shooting 59 percent from the field, held the Generals to only 33 percent shooting and won the rebounding battle 56-24 as the Lady Techsters bounced back from a heartbreaking overtime loss at Clemson Tuesday.

Raheem Abbleby led all players with 20 points, but Texas A&M used a 10-2 run in the second half to pull away from Louisiana Tech University for the 71-59 victory in both teams season opener Friday night at Reed Arena in College Station, Texas.